On Wednesday, there were not only tears in the red eyes of some evacuees from the Berri-UQAM station. There was an understandable frustration. The altercation during which cayenne pepper was sprayed by a man on a green line platform seemed like a snub to reality. No one imagined that the implementation of the “Reinsurance” plan of the Société de transport de Montréal (STM) would happen in the snap of a finger. The episode nevertheless served as a reminder of how long the road to putting an end to the insecurity that has taken root in the Montreal metro will be.
The Montreal metro is not that of Toronto, New York or Los Angeles. He is certainly plagued by the same ills: exploding homelessness aggravated by drug addiction and mental health problems spiraling out of control. Its symptoms are similar: incivility, consumption, threats, aggression. But not in the same proportions, not with the same intensity. Still, they are making progress. In 2023, the STM had recorded 47,000 calls and interventions from its special constables, compared to 42,000 the previous year. The first figures for 2024 do not suggest any slowing down.
The problem is first and foremost one of public health. The social safety net is fraying; intensified by the pandemic, the withdrawal of customers in distress around the platforms and entrances is the most blatant expression of this. If the metro has become the refuge for so many vulnerable people or people in crisis, it is because our health services, our social services, our shelters and our community resources do not respond or respond poorly to their crying needs.
Funding issues partly explain the failure of our care, aid and support networks. However, we must admit that glaring consultation problems are hampering our efforts. Without forgetting our slowness in adapting our aid and our structures to the needs of these clienteles who we insist on trying to fit into boxes, manners and schedules which often do not help them.
The problem is also one of social housing. The face of vulnerability is changing, needs are growing and diversifying. However, Montreal, Quebec and Ottawa demonstrate a distressing inability to work as a team on this crucial issue. Their respective blockages add up shamefully. The insecurity in the metro screams their common failure.
True, the recent attacks that occurred in the metro — a homeless person stabbed by teenagers and a young woman attacked in Lionel-Groulx; a man in his sixties mistreated in Jean-Talon — called for targeted and visible interventions. The “Reassurance” plan prudently responds to this immediate need by increasing the visibility of special constables. The STM is also banking on improving its security ambassadors, the Mobile Mediation and Social Intervention Team (EMMIS) and the special squads of the City of Montreal Police Service.
This approach between repression and aid intervention is neither a panacea nor easy to calibrate. Done right, it can still yield notable results for both travelers and people in crisis. This is evidenced by the appeasement felt in Philadelphia and San Francisco, which inspired Montreal, among others. There, the hiring of safety ambassadors and social workers has helped to reduce incidents in addition to directly affecting users’ feelings of safety.
So much the better, because users must be an integral part of the equation. There are more than 500,000 trips in the Montreal metro. Each day. The vast majority is done smoothly. Mayor Valérie Plante is not wrong to say that the metro remains a generally safe way to get around. But the feeling of security has indeed taken the edge. And we cannot let this insecurity take hold among users. The risk is too great to see them throw in the towel en masse.
In addition to its growing security flaws, the metro already has several odds against it: often poorly lit, it shows its age in addition to being served by intimidating brutalist architecture. Just one bad experience can be enough for someone to give up on public transit. Even more so if the burned-out user has the means to have a car or, better, to buy virtue with an electric car.
However, the grass is not so green on the roads of the metropolis. Solo driving also has its dark sides: traffic jams and road rage to boot. Knowing that the modal share of public transport must increase significantly if we want to confront the climate crisis, it is important to open our eyes to see our metro and its 68 stations as the sick person that it has become through neglect, of disenchantment and collective resignation.
The movement is still reversible… if we choose to take the right path.